Rave Vs. Grave: continued…

The scale of the Klaxons’ popularity, meanwhile, isn’t something you hear while the music is in progress, more something you can see for yourself. The queues extend miles out from the fringes of the tent. Messages are passed back about what a good time is being had inside.

The scale of the Klaxons’ popularity, meanwhile, isn’t something you hear while the music is in progress, more something you can see for yourself. The queues extend miles out from the fringes of the tent. Messages are passed back about what a good time is being had inside.

Or very nearly, at least. Thanks to the big screens outside it’s at least possible to see how the band’s performance – in spite of being the personification of Nu Rave – is so rock. It’s not just there in the Joy Division-style basslines, but also the presentation. Broken leg or not, Jamie Reynolds remains a frontman of looming intensity – one who has left his wheelchair, taken up his glowstick, and walked.

Elsewhere, the Smashing Pumpkins rage on, of course. But in the battle of rave vs grave, today, it’s rave that wins hands down. Hands in the air, in fact…